Ice ClimberReview

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This is where those Melee fighters came from.

By Lucas M. Thomas

The review of this product is based on a re-released version of the game. Because of this change of medium and the passage of time, it is possible that there are slight factual differences between the original retail product and the version reviewed. The following review should be used as a reference for how well the game stood up over time rather than an evaluation of how it would have scored based on its original release date.

Nobody remembered Ice Climber. It was old, low-profile and under the radar. Yes, nobody remembered Ice Climber until, in 2001, its two main characters were randomly plucked out of obscurity and thrust back into the spotlight. Nana and Popo, the parka-clad, hammer-wielding heroes of Ice Climber appeared as playable brawlers in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, instantly reviving interest in and appreciation for their 1985 debut game.

Ice Climber is a vertically-scrolling platformer. Built as an arcade action experience, the playfield always exists within the horizontal bounds of a single screen -- a single screen that scrolls up, a level at a time, as your climber climbs each mountain. Running to the left or right simply makes you appear again at the opposite edge, meaning there's no escape from your destiny. You are doomed to climb.

It's a forlorn and frigid fate, as the platform surfaces get colder, slicker and more ice-encrusted as you progress toward each mountain's peak. That progress is made by force, with your hammer. You leap into the air, hammer held overhead, and break away a hole in the ceiling above you. Then, hole created, you jump through and make that ceiling your new floor. Rinse and repeat the process all the way to the top, avoiding or attacking enemies along the way with your mighty mallet.

It's a simple design, but a challenging one. Moving cloud platforms and conveyor belt surfaces, unbreakable sections of block and more conspire to make the going tougher the further you get, and there are 32 mountains to conquer altogether. Ice Climber's a game you can play and enjoy alone, but it's much more fun to play with a friend. In the two-player co-op mode, you and a pal play as both Popo and Nana simultaneously. You can either work together to both reach the top of each level, or you can compete for the peak -- jumping quickly up the mountain and forcing a screen scroll is a great way to kill off your too-slow friend, lagging behind on a lower level.

It was Ice Climber's merits as a two-player experience that first brought it prominence, back in the '80s, where in Europe it was actually the pack-in game for an introductory NES set for several years. Here in the States, it served as one of the 18 NES launch titles that debuted with the system in 1985. It made a fairly good impression here, and also in Japan; enough that its heroes earned the call back to action and the primetime limelight in the Smash Bros. arena.

Ice Climber

Popo and Nana scale peaks and use their hammers to clobber monsters and chip away at treacherous ice. There's only one way to collect the vegetables that the condor has placed on one of 32 challenging platform-based mountains, and that's by going all the way up!

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The Verdict

Ice Climber was part of the "NES Classics" series chosen for re-release on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. It was also hidden in the GameCube game Animal Crossing a few years before that, and was one of the games released on the e-Reader card format around the same time. Through those three releases, or even with the original NES cartridge, it's entirely possible that you've already had the chance to experience Ice Climber. But for those who've missed out on it over the years, and for those who might be looking for another fun two-player co-op experience, it's definitely worth consideration.